Sound thoughts about VPR News, VPR Classical, VPR.net, and the public radio community.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Can I listen to VPR and VPR Classical on my iPhone?

I'm asked this question more and more lately and the answer is yes (if you want to pay $5.99) and almost (if you want to get it for free). First, the free solution.

VPR is part of a public radio initiative, spearheaded by American Public Media, to launch the Public Radio Tuner. The Public Radio Tuner will allow anyone to listen to the participating public radio streams via the iPhone and iPod Touch, including VPR and VPR Classical. This iPhone application will be FREE and available via the iTunes Store. It's not yet ready, but we expect it to be released in just a few weeks. We'll let listeners know once it's available.

If you can't wait a few weeks, there are already applications in the iTunes store that will allow you to listen to any online streams via the iPhone and iPod Touch. They aren't free, and I can't vouch for them, but they're available for about $6 and I've heard they work well. Search the iTunes Store for 'internet radio tuners' and you should have some luck.

If you have any questions about all the ways you can listen to VPR and VPR Classical, send us an email. Once the Public Radio Tuner is available we'd love to hear your feedback on that, too.